The history of the
ESSMANN scale manufacturer
The Hanseatic company ESSMANN has been shaping the history of professional weighing technology since 1860. With innovative solutions, it has driven forward the development of weighing technology. Here is the history of the company.
The journey begins with C.M. Westphal, a master locksmith, mechanic and gas fitter. On December 10 , 1860, he opened his workshop in front of the then “Lübecker Thor” of the city of Hamburg in the neighboring village of “Wandsbeck”.
Even before the introduction of the Prussian weights and measures regulations in 1868, Westphal was known for his skills in scale construction.
From 1872, an imperial standardization commission ensured the high accuracy that has been required of scales ever since.
Westphal specialized in the construction of scales and his company grew. He entered it in the commercial register in 1873. In 1877, he was granted a patent for his table scales. However, he died in the same year. His young nephews Albert and Ludwig Eßmann, not yet twenty at the time, took over the company where they had already completed their training. In 1879, the company moved to Friedensallee in Ottensen and was registered as Gebr. Eßmann & Co. in the Altona commercial register.
The success of their products and the expansion of their customer base led the brothers to build a scales factory at Barnerstraße 46.
Albert Eßmann had a clear goal: he wanted to develop a weighing device that could be seamlessly integrated into the design of a crane. The crane operator should be able to operate the crane and carry out and monitor the weighing process at the same time. This project was a great success when the first patent application for the Eßmann cable hoist scale was filed in 1907.
With the growth in goods transportation after the First World War, the demand for robust scales increased. On February 15, 1919, Albert Eßmann Sr. officially registered the company under the name Albert Eßmann & Co, Ottensener Waagenfabrik. The company concentrated mainly on the construction of large scales.
In 1919, his brother Ludwig Eßmann founded his own scales and gas meter factory in Altona in the Prussian Provisions Office on Bahrenfelder Chaussee.
In his son Heinrich, Albert found an energetic and innovative employee and partner for the now Ottensener Waagenfabrik Albert Eßmann & Co. with the Alesco trademark.
Heinrich designed the first large inclinometer and developed an illuminated scale. In 1931, he succeeded in manufacturing large scales in unloaded design, as they are still known today. In the decree of April 26 , 1935, the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt announced the final approval for the calibration of Alesco truck scales as the first unloaded design in Germany. The weighing process now only took a fraction of the time required by the weighing devices of the old systems.
With the introduction of the unloaded truck scales, the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt adapted the previous calibration regulations accordingly.
After Heinrich’s death in 1936, his widow Erika initially continued to run the company. Her son Horst later joined the company as a young adult and took over in 1959. He modernized the weighing technologies and the company was renamed HE Wägetechnik Horst Eßmann GmbH.
In 1975, the production of mechanical scales was discontinued and the first electromechanical scales with electronic indicators were introduced. From 1977 onwards, prefabricated concrete bridges replaced the in-situ concrete and steel weighbridges that had been common in the construction of large scales until then.
Michael Eßmann, the next generation of scale manufacturers, joined the company in 1987. He recognized the potential of PC software and the company invested in its development. In 1989, one of the first legal-for-trade, screen-guided weighing electronics was approved by the PTB. Since 1990, branches have been established successively in Rostock, Westhausen near Stuttgart and Berlin. In 1993, the head office moved to its current location in the west of Hamburg. With the EWP program, the latest software technology has been implemented since 1995. The first type-approved volume measuring system for road vehicles in Europe was created and calibrated for the ferry port of Mukran. In 1998, Michael Eßmann and his wife Manuela took over the management of the company.
After Horst Eßmann had supported the company in an advisory capacity for another two years, he left the company in June 2000 after 41 years in scale construction to take his well-deserved retirement. Several important projects were also realized in the new millennium, including the development, delivery and calibration of several dynamic rail scales in the highest possible accuracy class (0.2).
After 23 years, Manuela and Michael Eßmann sold their shares and retired from active management. During the transition, they supported the new management team in an advisory capacity. Since 2021, the management team, consisting of the managing partners Dr.-Ing. Fabian Ehmke, Dr.-Ing. Gregor Graßl and René Teichmann, has been managing the fortunes of HE Wägetechnik.
Not only the core team of system developers, service technicians and software developers distributed throughout Germany has been strengthened and expanded since then. In September 2022, WHI Wägetechnik für Handel und Industrie GmbH & Co. KG from Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg and HE Wägetechnik Horst Eßmann GmbH merged to form a group of companies.
Together with its customers and partners and the associated online store Waagen-Discounter, the company was able to expand its portfolio of scales, which in the last century focused primarily on road vehicle, rail vehicle and industrial scales, to include precision, store and laboratory scales for research, trade, chemicals and medicine.
Preparations for the construction of large scales and yard management systems as well as the maintenance, calibration and verification of mobile scales are now running in parallel in the company’s own scales workshop.
With continuous innovations and future-oriented developments in weighing technology ESSMANN | Scales & Automation has consolidated its position as a leading company in modern scale construction and, together with its partners from customers and suppliers, is looking confidently into a future that focuses on precision, efficiency and technological progress.
Scale builder tip: Weighing or weighing?
The verbs “weigh” and “weighing” are both used to determine weight, although “weighing” is generally more common. In the professional field, however, the term “weighing” is more commonly used to determine the weight of a mass. Both terms are accepted by the Duden dictionary, although “weighing” is colloquially regarded as an outdated variant.
In the professional field, however, “weighing” has established itself as the exact term for the process of determining weight with the help of a scale. We still use the term today in the words “weigh” and “consider”.
Both words are derived from the Germanic word “wigan”, which means “to move” or “to swing”.
The history of scales and weighing
The history of weighing goes back thousands of years. Weighing stones were discovered 7,000 years ago, which indicates that the determination of masses played a role early on in human history.
Egyptian papyri from 2000 BC already describe a beam balance. The Romans were familiar with a high-speed scale, while the Arabs invented hydrostatic scales in the tenth century and later scales with running weights.
These forms of weighing reached Central Europe via Spain towards the end of the Middle Ages. There, the Frenchman Giles Persone de Roberval constructed the table scale in 1670 and Jacob Leupold the first decimal scale in 1728. Although these devices had a certain degree of accuracy, their practical impact in terms of standardized weighing was insufficient.
It was only in Europe that the introduction of standardized units of weight was driven by the demands of science, technology and economics.
The versatility of industrial scales
Industrial scales have a wide range of unusual applications. In archaeology, for example, precision scales are used to weigh finds and document their mass. In the field of beekeeping, scales are used to monitor beehives in order to draw conclusions about honey production and the health of the bee colony.
Scales also play an important role in aviation. Before hot air balloons are launched, they are weighed to ensure that they are not overloaded.
They are regularly used in zoological gardens to weigh all animals, from spiders to elephants, and to observe their development.
Scales are also used in theater and film production. They are used to weigh props and equipment and to ensure that stages and sets can be loaded safely. These examples illustrate the versatility of the use of industrial scales. Thanks to certain functions of the scales, work steps can be simplified, combined and shortened.
Our scale manufacturer team will be happy to advise you, regardless of the area of application for which you need a scale.
